Northern Honshū (Tōhoku)
Opposite the city hall, this private home once belonged to a wealthy shipping agent. With a beautiful garden and a fascinating variety of room divisions…
Must-see attractions in Japan
Beppu
Yama is not included in the onsen meguri ticket and must be visited separately. A variety of animals are kept here in enclosures that look uncomfortably…
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
This is the Tokyo branch of Ise-jingū, Japan's mother shrine in Mie Prefecture. Credited with establishing the Shintō wedding ritual, Tokyo Dai-jingū is a…
Tokyo
Built in 1966 for the 60th birthday of Empress Kojun, this concert hall inside the Imperial Palace East Garden has a petal-shaped roof and outer scalloped…
Western Honshū
Steep stone steps lead up to this shrine in Tsurugata-yama-kōen, a park that overlooks the old area of town. The shrine is home to a wisteria tree thought…
Nagasaki
This former dock house has been moved to the top of Glover Garden and offers great views, especially from the 2nd floor. Inside are displays about the…
Western Honshū
This is where you come to get that picture of yourself with one foot in Honshū and the other in Kyūshū. For the 780m submarine walk to Kyūshū, take the…
Saitobaru Archaeological Museum
Kyūshū
The large Saitobaru Archaeological Museum displays excavated items such as Jōmon pottery, ancient swords, armour and haniwa (earthenware figures). Rent…
Osaka
This narrow two-storey museum is worth a visit for anyone with an interest in ukiyo-e (woodblock prints). It mainly displays prints of famous kabuki…
Western Honshū
The broken walls of Tsuwano-jō brood over the valley. A slightly rickety chairlift takes you slowly up the hillside, and there's a further 15-minute walk…
Hiroshima
This curved concrete monument houses a list of the names of all the known victims of the atomic bomb. It stands at one end of the pond at the centre of…
Sapporo
No Japanese tourist can leave Sapporo without snapping a photo of the city's signature landmark and oldest building, the clock tower. Built in 1878, the…
Kamakura
This small temple, founded in AD 734, is reputed to be the oldest in Kamakura. Climb the steep steps up to the ferocious-looking guardian deities and…
Hokkaidō
The second most northern point in mainland Japan, this cape is a pleasant walk (45 minutes) or bike ride (6km, 20 minutes) north of town. On the way, look…
Western Honshū
A wooden shrine dating from 1520, most notable for Gion Matsuri, a festival that opens with the Sagi-mai (Egret Dance) held held here on 20 July each year…
Yakushima Environmental & Cultural Village Center
Ōsumi Islands
In Miyanoura at the corner of the ferry-terminal road, this centre has exhibits about the island's natural environment and history, with limited English…
Ginza & Tsukiji
Okamoto Tarō created this sculptural clock tower four years before his famed Tower of the Sun for the 1970 expo in Osaka. It stands in Sukiyabashi-kōen, a…
Kyūshū
Reopened in 2016 after an extensive renovation, this beautiful, modern museum sits a stone's throw from Mojikō harbour and holds about five exhibitions…
Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa
This narrow, winding brick lane is a classic example of Tokyo-style bricolage with a mismatch of architectural styles, cutesy clothing stores and a…
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
Tucked away amid the Sola City development is this exhibition space occupying a relocated 1917 storehouse once used by the area's book distributors. Check…
Western Honshū
A simple shrine in a leafy setting, decorated with Bizen-yaki (Bizen pottery) figures of the animals of the Chinese zodiac. To get there, exit Imbe…
Western Honshū
This is a small museum with exhibits of scrolls, armour and paintings that were once the property of the Ikeda clan (who ruled Okayama for much of the Edo…
National Shōwa Memorial Museum
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
This museum of WWII-era Tokyo gives a sense of everyday life for the common people: how they ate, slept, dressed, studied, prepared for war and endured…
Nagasaki
Just next door to the memorial wall that honours the memory of 26 Christians murdered here in the 16th century, this museum houses Christianity-related…
Fukuoka
This monolithic, retractable-roof stadium is the home field of Fukuoka's much-loved SoftBank Hawks baseball team. Tours (in Japanese) are offered and…
Fukuoka
On the grounds of the Kushida-jinja shrine, this old-school museum has many displays about the Hakata Gion Yamakasa Matsuri, as well as swords, ancient…
Hakodate Museum of Northern Peoples
Hokkaidō
Inside the old Japan Bank building (1926), this museum has interesting exhibitions (labelled in English) about Ainu culture and also some of the other…
Central Honshū
This museum dedicated to the history of Japanese carpentry and its unique methods is a must for woodworkers and design fans. In a hands-on room, you can…
Hokkaidō
Stop by this museum and visitor centre in Kawayu Onsen to see how the surrounding volcanic landscape got its shape and to pick up hiking maps. There's a…
Northern Honshū (Tōhoku)
In the hills above Kamaishi, this enormous (48.5m) statue of the Goddess of Mercy has witnessed much tragedy below, but remains a source of hope for…
Ginza & Tsukiji
This small shrine is dedicated to the protection of fishermen (look for the detailed wooden carvings of them on the building's beams). It was originally…
Nagasaki
Inside Glover Garden, this statue memorialises Japanese opera singer Tamaki Miura, who performed as Cio-Cio-san in Puccini's famous opera Madame Butterfly…
Western Honshū
Reptile enthusiasts, or those with kids in tow, might want to pop into this small viewing facility, where several of the bizarre albino snakes unique to…
Ueno & Yanesen
Before the 1860s, only samurai lords could see these fascinating clocks, called wadokei, that tell time according to variable hours named after animals of…
Korean Atomic Bomb Victims Memorial
Hiroshima
This memorial in the Peace Memorial Park honours the Korean victims of the atomic bomb. Many Koreans were shipped over to Japan to work as slave labour…
Western Honshū
The stately French Renaissance–style Jinpū-kaku Villa, built as accommodation for the Taishō emperor when he visited as Crown Prince in 1907, now houses a…
Ueno & Yanesen
Literally the ‘Sunset Stairs’, these stone steps lead down to the classic mid-20th-century shopping street Yanaka Ginza. They are so called because you…
Western Honshū
Located in Kikkō-kōen is this former home of a middle-ranking samurai family from the mid-Edo period. You cannot enter the buildings, but you can walk…
Tokyo
Near the north exit of the Imperial Palace East Garden, all that remains of the main keep (donjon) of Edo-jō is its sloping stone base, which you can…
Hiroshima Region
Japan's Inland Sea was once a haven for pirates, and Inno-shima was the base of one of the three Murakami pirate clans. Today you can get a taste for that…
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